The Report of the Head of Federation ViacheslavRoi “The role and tasks of Ukrainian trade unions at the present stage” at the enlarged meeting of the Federation Council on May 15, 2012 The role and tasks of Ukrainian trade unions at the present stage

Home / News and events / The Report of the Head of Federation ViacheslavRoi “The role and tasks of Ukrainian trade unions at the present stage” at the enlarged meeting of the Federation Council on May 15, 2012 The role and tasks of Ukrainian trade unions at the present stage

The role and tasks of Ukrainian trade unions at the present stageThe most important problem faced by modern Ukrainian society is constantly growing in justice. The main reason for this injustice is hidden in our authorities.In order to deal with it we should develop civil society institutions, the institutions that can stand the authorities and control it. One of these institutions is trade unions. These are the organizations that have to fight for justice now, defend the rights and interests of workers.

Today, we can’t talk about the presence of powerful, strong trade unions in Ukraine. One of the reasons for this situation is that the trade union movement today is tested for persistence – on quite different lines. Moreover, the legal regulation of trade unions does not promotethe implementation of their functions of protection of labor rights and tends to further deterioration. By the formal presence of legal regulation of the possibility of social protest in the labor field it sactual implementation almost impossible.It is saying that trade unions are one of the sides of the triangle, in the system of triangle authorities-society, business. But it is worth to consider, what kind of the triangle is – if it is an equilateral, it will exist, but when there is a skew, and one side of this triangle is big, and the other, on the contrary, is small, it will lose its balance and will shifts toward. This corresponds to the situation which is in Ukraine today, when the trade unions is presented in that triangle in incomplete condition and, according to this, we can’t talk about the stability and complete social dialog. That’s why we have problems in relationships between the authorities and people, between the business and working people, there is a problem of crisis of trust to those institutions which already been created. It is important to understand it in time, to analyze the situation I find your own place in the system of public relationship. And for this we should sense, what people are mostconcerned abouttoday. And trade unions should hold an arm on the pulse of social life.Take a look, nowadays in fact there is not so easily in well-developed countries, and those problems, which are solved by the trade unions in this situation, make us think about a role of this public organization in the modern world. That’s why in our forces is to create such trade unions, which could have the levers of influence on authorities, as it is in USA, Germany, France, Greece, Great Britain, and other countries. But the interests of authorities and society are far opposite!!! And all the state law is build on a false statement, that authorities represent the interests of people! It is real lie and manipulation! The authorities and its representatives satisfy their vital needs by the different mechanisms of depression the people. People, in better case, are allowed to change the names in authorities, but not the system of depression, named “Authority”. The source of a chaos is a degenerate state structure: pseudo democracy and false peoples hierarchy, which primitively divides people for poor and rich! And about the middle class we can’t talk at all. Its practically vanishes. That’s why pseudo democratically hierarchy allows the worst forces of our society to come in the government system, who through the way of stealing, depression and lie collected significant financial recourses and came to power with the only goal – to save and multiply the stolen – using a state structure.Never before in Ukrainian the history corruption did not takesuch scope, as it is nowadays. In society formed stableunderstanding of that the corruption, being a way and style of life and activity of bureaucracy, penetrated all the less-more important areas of the state and social system, put in dependence of itself the existence and development of economics and more and more subordinates under its rules social and what is more personal life of citizens. That’s why nowadays we can constant that fact that the corruption migrated from a politics into all areas of social and political life and in trade unions as well. The corruption became a normal thing, what causingsignificantdamage. In Ukraine – there are dozens of billions hryvnas, what puts it by the level of corruption in recent years on the 140thplaceamongthe world. Dominant feature of a public life became criminal, legal and bureaucraticlawlessness.The great skew was appeared in the ideology of the labor: it is not important the complication, advantage and significance of your work for a society. The other thing is important: if you do not take, do not get the bribes and the gifts – you are losing! The corruption became prestigious, but honest work – outcast. In nowadays crisis situation, when a country, and everyone, who lives here, tighten ours belts, we have a class of people, whom the economical crisis fits. They are politicians. The main slogan of those “people’s defenders” is “the worse is, it is better”. The essence of that policy is – to talk a lot and to do nothing before the face of real and increasing danger for democratic institutions. The goal of this policy is to come to power, without any changes in system. The authorities as an opposition created and support such system, when, firstly, there is no of who to choose but them, secondly, the main mass of the voters is poor, half impoverished, which it is easy to buy. Those two factors provide them permanent stay and prosperity on “grain positions”, on the top of the social stairway. Those situation needs to be changed. There are two ways of change: evolution or revolution. For a revolution callmarginalpolitical parties. In early ХХ century Samuel Gompers, who in that time headed American Federation of Labor, gave American trade unions’ movement its modern features, told that labors should get more and more by the way of evolution, but not the violent revolution.According to Russian-American sociologist and culture researcher Pitirim Sorokin, the revolutions do not socialize but dialogize the people. They do not improve but worsen an economical situation of labor class. They do not increase but decrease all the base freedoms. What would not the revolutions reach; they reach it by terribleanddisproportionatelyhigh price. The entire fundamental and really progressive processes – it is the result of development of knowledge, solidarity, cooperation and love, but not the hate, brutality, mad fight, which necessarily accompanying the revolution. The revolution leads to nowhere, it rejects evolutional changes for a step back, and that’s why we do not need a revolution. We should make the politicians by the evolutional way to come for understanding of responsibility to the citizens and a state. We say “Yes to the changes and no - to a revolution”.Today the engine of the evolutional changes in political environment should become the trade unions. Should the trade unions interfere in politics? There iswidespreadbelief that the case of the trade unions – is to protect the economical labor rights on the level of particular enterprise and do not interfere in the political life of the country. Is it true? As for me, the trade unions are destined for the interference in politics. The defense of social rights of the citizens, which they should do, anyway faces with a political sphere. The place of trade unions in politics has significant meaning. Because for today they are great electoral field, field of battle for the questions of social and economical development. Nowadays all the questions, what the politics solves, are raised by the trade unions they are: the Tax Code, the Pension Reform, and the Labor Code, and a lot of other socially significant themes. Toady, when we are speaking about that in Ukraine are already created civil society, it means that we are running too far ahead. It is only forming. And what it will be, and what will be the trade unions, today we do not see yet. It depends on us, on citizens. And on that how people uniting, will realize the public control, will be depend maturityof our society. And the role of trade unions in the consolidation of the society, as for me, is very important.Whether people trust social institutions, trade unions are among them, depends on the maturityof society and maturityof the trade unions themselves. More than centenary history of the trade unions shows that people need this organization. The forms of organization are changing, but the main principle – defense of labor rights – stay permanent. Yes, there were different times, and goals and tasks were different to. There is no doubt that today the trade unions should take part in social and political processes and make influence on politics. Trade unions should form politics; otherwise they are at risk becoming the “dead” organ, not interesting for people. Moreover, trade unions do not have a goal the capturing of power. But the formation of social politics and reaching the improvement of life’s quality and labor of people that is our function. Most of analytics are convinced that who haven’t come to power, they will be the same as the previous were, and will do the same. Definitely the system should be changed. Is it really that the system could be changed by those people who are or were in power and wants one more time to be in power?No. there is nothing to talk about, it is an axiom: no! It means that we need another people for changing the system. They say when the new people will come then everything will change. But no one can clarify: what exactly new people.The task of Ukrainian trade unions on the present stage is to find people with a completely new ideology. Not consumer, but creative. There are a lot of such people. For them it is not an obligation they like to compose things, to build, to create. We should only see them and to move closer to them. Thesepeople arejustnot in price, inno respect. After we begin to see them, to find them, to appreciate them, to promote, to choose – then the new ideology will appear and rule. We should look attentively at people who are coming into the surface, comparing their statements with their deeds. For example, abroad they monitor the biography but not the statements. To define and see that people we should define the criteria which they should comply. Those criteria should come out from trade unions, as for today it is the most numerous organization of citizens which unites different social categories of citizens. They are: pensioners, students, chernobylians, Afghans… When we find those people, who meet the criteria of morality, honesty and responsibility we can form such power, which will defend the interests of citizens of country, but not only its own, which will create a system in whichpeople will be its source, but not money, acquaintance, connections… only then the new age for country will begin. This performance I would like to set the beginning of a discussion in the trade unions and in society, which will end by definition clear criteria for candidates for Verkhovna Rada. Those criteria should be formed before beginning election campaign that is why I suggest holding of the “Forum ofleadersand heads oftrade unionorganizations of Ukraine” on July 19 on which the trade unions, as the most numerous organization of citizens will give to the society clear guidelines which they can estimate the candidates to VerkhovnaRada.